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Year of Mygration

Migrants and migration matter to The Open University and to all of us.

The Open University's Year of Mygration stands as a remarkable introduction to diverse perspectives of migrants and migration. The Open University is ‘open to people, places, methods and ideas’ so has always welcomed migrants as students and staff, and has encouraged pioneering methods of learning, teaching, research and engagement around the themes of migration, refugees, mobility and belonging. 250 separate contributions have been gathered under the heading of a Year of ‘My-gration’ to emphasise that we are all affected by migration, whether or not we ourselves or immediate families are migrants. The issues of migration are vital to understanding not just current UK politics but also the world’s economies and communities.

The origins of this Year of Mygration are in a collaboration between the Citizenship & Governance and the International Development & Inclusive Innovation Strategic Research Areas of the OU. The idea was to share a reflection every day, Monday to Friday, for 50 weeks of a year, on the broad theme of migration which showcased the work of the OU academics and our partners, be it a short blog, podcast or archive clip, a tweet or a link to a longer article. We numbered the posts from 1 to 250 partly so that anyone can start their own Year of Mygration in any year and at any point in any year. We appreciate that migrants and the whole world live with migration 7 days a week for the whole 52 weeks of the year but we believe that there is a value in this exercise and we would welcome anyone creating their own sequels. As the OU enters our 50th anniversary year, 2019, we remain committed to being ‘open to people, places, methods and ideas’.

Day 39, Year of #Mygration: Mind the gap: the migration data

The Office for National Statistics has recently published its latest Migration Statistics Quarterly Report.

22nd February 2018

Day 38, Year of #Mygration: Dr Fidèle Mutwarasibo

Dr Fidèle Mutwarasibo, Visiting Research Fellow at The Open University, discusses his experiences of living in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Ireland and Milton Keynes.

21st February 2018
Shutterstock 309545528 Digging an allotment

Day 37, Year of #Mygration: Milton Keynes Community Allotment Project for Refugees

A grant from MK Community Foundation has allowed refugees and asylum seekers to participate in an allotment project in Milton Keynes. The ongoing project aims to improve the health and well-being of refugees and asylum seekers accessing Red Cross services.

20th February 2018
Shutterstock-604604162 Migrants marching

Day 36, Year of #Mygration: #1DayWithoutUs: Mining twitter, framing solidarity

According to its organisers, the 2017 One Day Without Us action aimed to emphasise the variety of work migrants undertake to help keep the UK afloat.

16th February 2018
Shutterstock-579478729 Immigration

Day 35, Year of #Mygration: One day without us

As politicians are struggling to identify the ‘will of the people’ tomorrow’s ‘One Day Without Us’ campaign is a needed reminder who the people are.

16th February 2018
Animation and image by alan Fentima

Day 34, Year of #Mygration: Children's language brokering across places and spaces

Samir was 13 years old when I first met him. He had arrived in the UK from Afghanistan some years earlier. He was reluctant to talk in class about his home language, as some of the other pupils would call him a ‘terrorist’, so he kept that side of his life hidden.

15th February 2018

Day 33, Year of #Mygration: Migrating musicians, migrating musics

It’s difficult to imagine British musical life without the contributions of migrating musicians and the music they bring with them. In the realm of western art music, the works of the Halle-born George Frideric Handel are closely bound up with British public life.

14th February 2018

Day 32, Year of #Mygration: Crossing the Channel Tunnel

On the 17th August 2015, Abdul Haroun, a Sudanese refugee, walked the 31-mile Channel tunnel to Britain with a hope of reaching safety in the UK. Artist and artist film maker Alia Syed read the news reports of Abdul Haroun walking through the Channel Tunnel and was astonished that somebody could survive walking through the tunnel. Inspired by Mr Haroun’s case, Alia Syed filmed herself crossing the London Rotherhithe tunnel by foot.

13th February 2018
Photo credit: Dr. Joanne Jordan, Global Development Institute

Day 31, Year of #Mygration: Invite for paper contributions

Dr Belinda Wu , Research Fellow in Development Policy and Planning at the Open University and Dr Gareth Bentley, Senior Teaching Fellow in media at SOAS, are organising a paper panel at the Development Studies Association (DSA) conference 2018 on Global inequalities.

12th February 2018
Credit: MPI-MMG

Day 30, Year of #Mygration: Call for Papers

Anecdotal evidence suggests that racialised researchers and public figures find themselves in an ambivalent position when the issue of migration suddenly becomes topical. Everyone wants to hear their views and attributes the perspectives they offer to their racialised bodies and experiential knowledge rather than to their professional expertise.

9th February 2018